Love the Home You’re With. Was : Real Estate For Sale by Owner

[eta2020]

Your choice of home — and how often you choose a new one — will determine your ability to accumulate wealth. According to The Millionaire Next Door, that wealthy family has been next door for quite a while. Half of millionaires have lived in the same house for more than 20 years.

FIs how many houses did you buy in your lifetime?
What are your plans?

I live in same house (our first house) for 17 years and plan to do so for 6 more at which point we will FIRE.

Looks to me most people can not avoid wasting 6% of their money each time they buy and sell the house (Reading thread "Real Estate For Sale by Owner")

 

[jjquantz]

This is one area that we have not been very good . Daughters keep telling us that in order to build equity we need to stay in one place for a while. A brief history:

1979 - 1983 - Various rentals in college and in New Orleans.
1983 - purchase small house in NOLA for $80K
1986 - transferred to Houston, BigOil buys house for $73K (and covers commission)
1986-87 - rent in Houston
1987-1988 - Move to Collegetown for grad school rent
1988 - buy house while in grad school for $36K
1992 - Sell house for $51K - move to Smalltown, IA buy another for $61K
1997 - Sell house for $61K - move back to Collegetown, buy house for $139K
2002 - Sell house for $150K, buy big old house that DW just happened to notice and fell in love with for $112K
2007 - move to NOVA and rent
2008 - Finally unload old house for $110K after chasing falling market for 18 months
2009 - Buy townhouse in NOVA for $ungodly sum$
2012 - Sell townhouse for same $ungodly sum$ and buy house for $less than ungodly sum$

And here is where we are going to stay!

If you are keeping score, we have lived in 10 different rentals and have "owned" 6 properties during our 35 years of marriage. We are 1/5 for making a profit.

Good thing that we have always bought inexpensive houses relative to our income (with the exception of the last townhouse which was still much less than most people with our income would have bought). So, yes we were stupid to move so often, but at least we minimized the damage.

 

[HFWR]

One, where I live now. Here 14+ years. Might eventually move to a condo or similar, but not soon.

 

[FIREd]

Let's see:

1992-2002: various rentals throughout college and grad school
2002: bought a house in North Carolina for $185K
2005: sold house in North Carolina for $205K and bought a house in Alabama for $194K (moved for job)
2012: moved to California for job. Renting an apartment in California. Still own house in Alabama but will be listing for sale soon for $225K.

Don't plan on buying another home any time soon.

 

[pb4uski]

....FIs how many houses did you buy in your lifetime?
What are your plans?...

This is our third home.

First home we owned from 1984-1986 in greater Boston area as young marrieds. The top floor was unfinished and we finished it ourselves. Those improvements, along with a growing real estate market at the time, allowed us to sell it for almost twice what we had into it.

We owned our second home for 24 years and raised our kids there. We made many improvements over the years and probably about broke even.

Our current home we have owned 9 years, but only 4 years as our main home. It was formerly our summer/vacation home and we demolished the building and rebuilt. I expect that we will be here until they put us in the ground or a nursing home but we will snowbird to somewhere warmer in the winter.

 

[Senator]

After I got out of the service, I lived in my Dad's duplex. After that, I moved to my own home, where I traded equity in a business for. I have been here ever since, and it's paid off.

I actually wrote a post about the property on my blog.

 

[Mo Money]

12+ years. Hope to stay at least 5-10 more. RE next year (lucky 13 years in the same abode!).

 

[FUEGO]

2 houses.

1st was a condo in Chapel Hill which we lived in for 3 years while attending law school. Bought 70k, sold $95k after $5-6k improvements.

2nd home was going to be a starter home, but it's looking like a permanent home at 10.5 years in so far. 4 BR home on a 1/3 acre in the city. On a lake. Bought for $107k from the city at an auction (surplus property with some potential issues that were non-issues). Put a lot of sweat equity into the place and spent maybe $4-5k fixing it up over the years (with free/cheap labor from construction worker in-laws in exchange for legal services, appliance repair, and computer tech support). House is currently worth $140-150k 10 year later (with most of the equity gain occurring at the time of purchase).

I definitely think being content staying in once place is a key to FI. There were temptations to upgrade as our working peers did so, but we stayed put and focused on the positives of our current residence (location, neighbors, low cost, no Joneses to keep up with, etc).

 

[foxfirev5]

Been 19 years in our fourth and hopefully last home. Just like cars, buy what you want and keep it forever.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

We've owned 2 homes. The first was a smallish starter house; we paid $170K for it 1996, and sold it 3 years later for $225K (we also put about $35K of upgrades into it, so after realtor fees, we basically broke even).

We bought our current place when we sold the first one, for $390K. I thought we were a little crazy to spend that much at the time, but conservatively, it would sell for $850K today. We've been here 15 years, and will probably be here another 12-15, until the kids leave the nest. At that point, we hope to downsize, and pad our ER fund with the excess.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Gumby]

Since July 1992, we have lived in our first and only home. It was, in fact, the only house we ever looked at, and we found it completely by accident. We weren't planning to buy a house for a few years, but we knew this was the one for us when we saw it. We have refinanced 5 times to take advantage of falling rates, and have never taken a dime of equity out. The mortgage, currently at 1.99%, will be paid off in 2 years and 10 months. I expect we'll move to a continuing care community when the time comes, but I don't expect to ever buy another house.

 

[rodi]

Rented throughout most of my 20's (college and post college).
Move to Bellingham in 1990, rented 2 different places. Bought house in 1991 in Bellingham for $72.5k
Took job in suburban Philly in 1993... oops. Fortunately there was an increase in the market and I had a corporate package that paid the realtors. Sold in 1993 for $80k and got to pocket the difference. In the meantime rented near new job.
Corporate package also offered closing costs on purchase in suburban Philly if w/in first year - closed on new house in Dec. 1993 for $114k.
A few years later (1995/96) moved to take a job down south - listed house. Job sucked, house wasn't selling (in part due to 'blizzard of the century'). Chucked southern job and moved back into unsold house.
In 1999 - met DH , he put his home up for rent and moved into mine. Got hitched, had baby, and shortly after that took a transfer back to my hometown of San Diego. Sold my Philly burbs house for $136k - which covered closing costs and recovered my down payment but didn't give me a windfall. DH sold his home when the lease was up on his tenants, later that year. That left us a nice chunk of money (between the two house sales) for a down payment.

Rented in San Diego for 1.5 years while deciding if we'd ever get past the sticker shock of San Diego. Deciding factor was Dad deciding to downsize and sell to us at market value - but we'd get the reduced prop-13 tax rate (saved SEVERAL thousand dollars each year.)
We sucked it up and bought the 40 year old (at the time) tract-home that I grew up in, for a fortune. We've been here 11+ years, and have no intention of every leaving. We added a granny flat for the in-laws, and now that they aren't living there, we get a very nice rental income from the detached casita. Paid off the mortgage earlier this year.

Transaction costs are only part of the picture in CA. If you're under 55, in CA, you also restart your prop-13 tax rate on the new sales value. So upgrading your housing also significantly upgrades your carrying costs. (Unless you do a generational transfer, or are over 55 and "downsize" - which is defined as buying a place for "less" than the one you sell.)

 

[heeyy_joe]

Just sold house #5, married 35 years. Longest stay was house #3 for 15 years raising the children. Now off to condo living on the Florida gulf coast!

 

[aja8888]

1974 – get out of college, work as Engineer - buy house in Connecticut for $28,000

Within two months, get transfer to Detroit (promotion). Wife decides not to go, we split (no kids, still friends). Sell house for $29,000.

1976 – Buy house in Detroit for $33,300 – New wife pregnant.

Within 6 months, get transferred back to CT (big promotion). Sell Detroit house for $41,000.

!977 – Build nice house in Southbury, CT for $56,000. – wife has 2nd daughter.

1980 – Big Oil hires me and moves me to California. Sell CT house for $100,000. Buy Ca house for $205,000.

1985 – Move up to a new house in Ca for $229,000. Sell 1st Ca house for $219,000.

1986 – Lose job at Big Oil – use separation $$$ to buy a condo in Ca for $90,000 and rent it out. Find new job in Ca.

1989 – Wife wants “out” of Ca and leaves. Sell both Ca properties for $405,000 and $185,000 respectively. Profit pays for some of the divorce costs.

1990/91 – Start my own consulting business and I rent apartment in Texas with two teenage daughters. This was really a fun time.

1994 – I buy Texas house for $91,000 with $13,000 down and pay it off in 12 years.

($$ Put two daughters through college $$)

2013 – Sell TX home for $205,000 and buy a newer, smaller one close by for $214,000.

If I made any money, it paid for two college educations and a divorce.

But all is good now.....and that's all that counts!

 

[NgineER]

Rented in grad school, bought first house after grad school in 2007 (not quite peak market but almost) for $265 in greater Philly area with company paying for relocation and closing cost if buying within a year.
Stayed 5 years and did exhaustive renovations, put in lots of sweat equity and $30k.
Sold in 2012 (FSBO with MLS listing) for $312k, about $9k profit.
Relocated with new company closing costs paid for and bought a nice 100+ year old home for $282k and locked in 30 year mortgage at 3.5%. Hope to live here for a long time, but my wife wants to downsize to "small space living" which I am not on board with yet... We'll see.

 

[dunkelblau]

Lifelong renter with no plans to change, moved apartments every 8 years on average.

I don't buy the premise, I think staying in a starter home long term comes from the same attitude that keeps these guys out of Jones's rearview mirror. IMO if you hold a steady job and can lock down on the standard of living you started out with as an adult, that's a pretty sure path to wealth. Habitual upgraders need a steeper wage trajectory to reach it.

 

[psweath]

We've bought 6 homes in 31 yrs. of marriage. Current one is in a 55+ Active Living community and we think we'll stay here many, many years -we love it, but we've said that before and turns out we only average about 5 years per house!

 

[chris2008]

Still in our first home after 32 years of home ownership and marriage.
We updated some features, but still like the structure and area.

 

[shortstop14]

Bought our first home in 1986, and still there. Paid it off in 13 years, even with an initial interest rate of 10.5% before refinancing. Retired last year, and we might look to downsize or rent down the road, but more for convenience and maintenance avoidance than for any need to pull out equity.

 

[retirementguy1]

I wouldn't be surprised if the average American spends $50k over their lifetime in real estate commissions. That is one year of full time work for the average American. Some of the best real estate advice I heard was "make your starter home your forever home."-Jeff Yeager

I've only bought one home, five years ago. I plan on being FIRE'd in 8 years. I'll sell the house and hit the road Perpetual Traveler style. Not sure if I will ever own real estate after that.

 

[clifp]

I bought two primary houses, and four rental properties.

Both houses I actually bought 1/2 a house, a college roommate, in the 80s in Silicon Valley and then bought his 1/2 out a few years later. I did basically the same thing in the 2000s with a girlfriend in Hawaii and bought her 1/2 out a few years later when we split up.

 

[eta2020]

We bought one starter house in one of the most expensive places in the state. It is barely 1100 sq ft. We live live here 17 years so far.

I like that it has superb school system and for this reason we will stay here until DD finished High School.

In last 17 years almost all houses around were torn down and replaced with 1-2 million dollar houses which did marvellous things to our property value though bad thing is that now we face pretty big property tax.

I don't think we will want to stay here after FIRE. So then we will buy second house and that will be last one.

 

[Marita40]

1987 Bought first house as a graduate student for $50,000.
1988 Sold house FSBO for $65,000. Got lucky here as it turned into a kind of flip!
1988 Moved for job, bought house for $55,000.
2008 Sold house 20 years later for $220,000--good gain despite falling market.
2008 Bought condo for $329,000. Paid off remaining mortgage over next couple years.
2014 Condo is now on the market for $349,900. but no sale yet--hoping soon!
2014 Bought house for $321,000.
The younger me who bought several houses for $50,000-$55,000 would have dreamed one could spend more than $150,000. for a house!

 

[BTravlin]

1989 - starter home
1998 - move to larger home
2000 - divorced, bought smaller home
2002 - remarried, bought a larger home for blended family
2010 - bought condo with RE in mind
2013 - sold home and FIRE'd to condo

 

[Lakedog]

The first 12 yrs of post college life, I rented or lived in employer provided housing.

Bought first house in Oregon for $119k in 1993, sold in 1995 for $140k (employer paid all closing costs, including realtor fees).

Bought Alabama lake house in 1995 for $155k, sold in 2013 for $400k.

Earlier this year I bought a condo in FL but not sure I am suited for condo living so will likely sell before long (expect to break even when sold or certainly come out no worse than renting for the time I have lived here).

I plan to rent or RV for a while unless I find the perfect place.